We often say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. But in our global village, one man’s trash can also be another man’s trash, and another man’s – and eventually, my own again! It doesn’t take long to see that we are all connected in one way or another. When pressure is applied to one region of the web, the stress is felt throughout.
Of course, this situation is not unique to garbage. You can apply the same thinking to rumors in the office, poor quality control on the factory floor, trash talk on TV, or congressional gridlock. Whatever is left unfinished, poorly crafted, sloppily shared, or tinged with malice has negative consequences that spill over and influence the next iteration of the system. Since it’s so difficult to see the whole all at once, we are unpleasantly surprised when last year’s brilliant decisions have morphed into this year’s dark monsters.
When the present begins to smell sour we look for a cause, either to assign blame or find a solution. Blaming someone else feels good but it doesn’t resolve the issue. Instead, it merely assigns more responsibility to one party than all the others. I may decide you are at fault but we all still have a mess to clean up!
On the other hand, when we realize the circular nature of the systems in which we operate, it becomes clear: there is nothing for which each of us is not both part of the problem and part of the solution. You and I have the ability to determine how much responsibility we will accept for both the creation of a problem and for its resolution.
Now, my intention is not to dump more trash in your yard by spreading a load of guilt. But it is important to become sensitive to the many opportunities we have to reduce the circular garbage flow. What if the next time we heard of a negative consequence or a project that turned bad, we did not look for someone to blame. What would happen instead, if we looked for our own contribution to that problem – no matter how small – and disposed properly of at least that much of the trash?
Perhaps then we will all begin to breathe a bit easier.
Of course, this situation is not unique to garbage. You can apply the same thinking to rumors in the office, poor quality control on the factory floor, trash talk on TV, or congressional gridlock. Whatever is left unfinished, poorly crafted, sloppily shared, or tinged with malice has negative consequences that spill over and influence the next iteration of the system. Since it’s so difficult to see the whole all at once, we are unpleasantly surprised when last year’s brilliant decisions have morphed into this year’s dark monsters.
When the present begins to smell sour we look for a cause, either to assign blame or find a solution. Blaming someone else feels good but it doesn’t resolve the issue. Instead, it merely assigns more responsibility to one party than all the others. I may decide you are at fault but we all still have a mess to clean up!
On the other hand, when we realize the circular nature of the systems in which we operate, it becomes clear: there is nothing for which each of us is not both part of the problem and part of the solution. You and I have the ability to determine how much responsibility we will accept for both the creation of a problem and for its resolution.
Now, my intention is not to dump more trash in your yard by spreading a load of guilt. But it is important to become sensitive to the many opportunities we have to reduce the circular garbage flow. What if the next time we heard of a negative consequence or a project that turned bad, we did not look for someone to blame. What would happen instead, if we looked for our own contribution to that problem – no matter how small – and disposed properly of at least that much of the trash?
Perhaps then we will all begin to breathe a bit easier.
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